Mireya Cardenas was remembered Wednesday as a girl who was quick to spread smiles with jokes and offers to help.

The 9-year-old known to her friends as Mia loved the color pink, and she liked to take her time walking in the hallways of Fremont Intermediate School in Mundelein so she could peruse the artwork of classmates that hung on the walls, friends and family said.

Mia drowned Aug. 27 while swimming with a group of friends near a private boat launch on Fox Lake in northwest suburban Ingleside. Officials said she had waded out from the shallow shoreline to an area where the lake's depth takes a steep drop.

On Wednesday, hundreds gathered in Libertyville at a memorial service for Mia. Friends and family shared memories of the girl's short but active life and released pink balloons outside the service in her memory.

Gary Beers, a neighbor of the Cardenas family, recalled how Mia would come over to help him wash and wax his cars.

Once, while Beers had stepped away to get soap, he returned to find that Mia had tossed some grass from the yard onto the spotless seats of his car.

When Beers asked her why, Mia responded, "I wanted to help you clean it so I had to make a mess," he said.

He recalled a little girl with a bright personality and a sense of independence that made her unique.

"Mia was her own person," he said. "She was always full of energy, and she had a heart of gold."

Mia's cousin Jazmin Perez, 17, was her baby sitter. She said she last saw Mia a few days before she died. Mia had asked her to come to breakfast, but Perez said she was in a hurry to leave for work. She said the girl was like a little sister to her.

"I ... promised I'd be back," Perez said through tears. "I told her I'd make her pancakes with all the special sprinkles in them."

Mia's father, Mario Cardenas, said his family has been humbled by the outpouring of love and support from friends and the community.

She "gave me a lifetime of memories and laughter and beautiful moments," he said.

In the chapel lobby, pictures glued onto pink and white poster board were surrounded by messages to Mia. Next to a smiling picture of Mia in a cheerleading uniform, framed in glitter swirls and stickers, one friend wrote: "Mia, I hope you are thinking of us. We are thinking of you."

In addition to her father, Mia's survivors include her mother, Maribel, an older brother, Peter, and a younger sister, Madelyn.